“He’s always been there, and he has a great relationship with Manolo,” the Modern Family alum said of her ex-husband’s relationship with their 34-year-old son.
Sofía Vergara is opening up about her co-parenting relationship with ex-husband, Joe Gonzalez.
The Modern Family alum made a rare comment about her relationship with Joe and how they have remained close over the years for their son, Manolo Vergara.
“He was my high school sweetheart,” the 53-year-old told Us Weekly.
“We got divorced, but we were always good friends. He lived in Colombia, so it was difficult for him to see Manolo a lot, but he’d make the effort [and they’d] see each other at least once or twice a year.”
She added: “He’s always been there, and he has a great relationship with Manolo.”
In the joint interview with her 34-year-old son, Manolo noted that despite the distance between him and his father, they are still close.
“We’re totally cool,” he added. “We don’t see each other as often because of the distance, but we do what we can.”
Sofía and Joe’s relationship started in Colombia, with the duo tying the knot in 1991. The pair went their separate ways two years later before Sofía and Manolo moved to Miami to focus on her acting career. She was just 24 years old at the time.
“It was super hard,” she shared. “There are things that, as a young person, you’re not supposed to be thinking about. It’s a lot of pressure and you’re trying to figure out your own life.”
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Unlike some divorces with children, Sofía found Joe was supportive of the decisions she made for her career and Manolo.
“I didn’t have to discount with anyone telling me how to do things,” she explained. “His father trusted me, so that was really cool — [we] didn’t have to fight or put him in the middle. At least [Manolo] didn’t have that. It can be really wild for kids to have two parents [who aren’t] going in the same direction.”
The America’s Got Talent judge opened up about being a single mom while working on her career in the entertainment industry and how she felt “guilty” at times.
“I had to travel a lot because of the entertainment business,” she recalled. “It wasn’t like an office nine-to-five job. Every month was a different schedule. That’s difficult because you miss birthdays and school things.”
They eventually landed in LA before Sofía landed her iconic role in Modern Family in 2009, with Manolo calling it an “awesome” childhood and that he “wouldn’t change a thing.”
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